


Tattoos and Cat Cafes

by streetyeet



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Cats, Mentioned Lee Seokmin | DK, Tattoos, but like only at the end, cat lady jihoon, tattoo artist!soonyoung, teacher!jihoon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 04:20:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16055432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/streetyeet/pseuds/streetyeet
Summary: Soonyoung is sentimental + likes tattoos. Jihoon misses his cat. It's a lit ass time.(or I wanted to write a tattoo parlour/flower shop au but didn't wanna be basic so I made this instead. enjoy)





	1. Chapter 1

Soonyoung had always been a sentimental guy. He cried when his mum took away his teddy bear saying he was ‘too old’, he cried on his last day of elementary, middle and high school, and he cried when he moved out and away from his family to live in the city. He’d always valued things for the memories they held more than he did the actual object.  
When he was 7 his family moved house, and not only did he say good bye to every piece of furniture they were leaving behind, but every tree, every rock, every flower (that of course Soonyoung had named) received a goodbye. His mother had recorded the entire thing and insisted on playing it at every Christmas, dinner party or birthday lunch.   
Hence why him becoming a tattoo artist wasn’t too well-received by his parents. He got his first tattoo when he was 18 (much to the disapproval of his mother who made it very clear the consequences if a second tattoo were to be inked on his skin) and ever since then the romance of having something etched into your skin forever was incredibly appealing for Soonyoung. So appealing in fact, that he did not stop at 2, or 3 tattoos, or even at 10. To be quite frank, he didn’t know how many he had at this point, only knowing that with each inked image on his body the narrative grew deeper.  
He always tried to see the best in people’s tattoos. For him, something as special (and permanent) as a tattoo should only be done when the person really wants it. He’s never given a drunk tattoo, nor will he ever accept a fake ID, even if the extra fees they were willing to pay were very persuasive. When people came in asking for dates, names and words, he could easily understand the sentimental value. Inanimate objects were a little harder, but he always amused himself trying to back solve the story of the tattoo he was giving. Sometimes though, the tattoo was so ridiculous, or the person was so out of character for the tattoo he was giving, that he could not link the two together.  
Like right now, for example. That afternoon, a short, blonde man with a cold (yet pretty cute) face who looked fairly stressed out came in asking for an appointment. His fingers tapped anxiously over his satchel and Soonyoung could tell the guy had probably never come within 3 metres of a tattoo shop, let alone venture inside to receive one. He said that it would probably only take 5 minutes anyway, so Soonyoung (who was on his break) decided to humour the guy and give him the tattoo that he’d drawn up beforehand. Soonyoung already liked him, a customer that drew up their own tattoos not only gave him less work, but knew for sure exactly what they wanted on their body and saved him from guiltily going about his business giving someone a tattoo he knew they’d regret later, just because he told them they should get it.  
The man walked in and sat down next to the tattoo chair, handing Soonyoung a slip of paper with slightly nervous hands. Soonyoung noticed how small said hands were, and suppressed the urge to grab them and wrap them up in his own.   
“You can get settled on the bench here, you said it wouldn’t take long so you probably don’t need to lie down.” Soonyoung said, facing away from the man, his fingers performing the instinctual ritual of setting up the ink and needles.   
“Uh, I’ll be getting it on my wrist, so do I need to like…do anything?” The man spoke, his (cute) hands running through his hair nervously.   
“Nope, just roll up your sleeve and we should be good to go.”   
Soonyoung unfolded the piece of paper, expecting something mature, maybe a geometric pattern or a date, but whatever he was expecting to find when he opened the piece of paper was very far from the small outline of a cat that he found. When the man said that the tattoo would take 5 minutes, he was not exaggerating.  
The design was about the size of a thumbnail and as Soonyoung traced it onto the man’s soft wrist, he went through his usual routine of fabricating the backstory of his customer’s tattoo, but for some reason all his theories came to a screeching halt at the final idea that he was probably just a cat lady (man?) and thought that a small tattoo would be cute. The idea that the man sitting in front of him nervously chewing on the inside of his lip was nothing more than a cat lady in a short, male body seemed to be too bland compared to his usual dramatic reconstructions of strangers’ lives the Soonyoung usually conjured up. He felt like there was no way that the man could be as 2 dimensional as that, and he racked his brain for any other ideas that could explain the small cat now being inked onto the stranger’s arm.  
He felt the man tense underneath the needle and momentarily paused his work. “Hey, if you tense up, the tattoo will just be more painful, try and relax yeah?” Soonyoung made eye contact with the man and noticed the slight squint of his eyes as he tried to withstand the pain.  
“Yeah…yeah okay.” The man’s voice was quiet and shaking, too distracted by the (to be honest quite minimal) pain in his wrist. Soonyoung could feel the tense muscles under his needle and tired a different approach. Distraction.  
“So, this is your first tattoo right?” The man nodded. “Well, my first tattoo was when I was 18. I didn’t really know what I was doing with my life, like most kids when they’re 18, so I thought it would be kinda sick to get a tattoo. I got a little star, right under my left collar bone.” Soonyoung could feel the blonde man shift slightly to get a glimpse of said tattoo, muscles unclenching slowly, so he continued on with his story.   
“My Japanese teacher in kindergarten used to call me Hoshi, it means star in Japanese. I had a lunchbox with a big yellow sun on it and every time we had Japanese she would tell me that I looked like the star on my lunchbox. Then, I started to draw stars on everything, textbooks, exams, receipts, you name it I drew on it. When I graduated high school, Hoshi had become like my second name so I just kinda went with it and thought , ‘Fuck it, why not.’” At this sentence Soonyoung switched off the needle, having finished the tattoo, and began the process of cleaning and disinfecting the man (whose name he still didn’t know)’s wrist, but thought that he should finish the story.   
“I dunno, like, most people regret their first tattoo, but I like mine, it’s the first thing that ever made me, me, you know?” Soonyoung made eye contact with the guy for the first time in the 10 minutes they’d known each other and noticed that he seemed a lot more relaxed than when he first came in, which he took as a good sign considering he prided himself on making other people happy.   
“So, here’s all the stuff you’re gonna need for the next few weeks, like bandages and disinfectant and stuff, and just make sure to change the wrappings at least once a day, don’t leave them on for more than 12 hours, cuz that’s when they get nasty.” At this the unnamed man let out a soft giggle, making Soonyoung even more enamoured with him than he already was. He paused for a second to appreciate the sound, before realising that he had more to say. “And then after like 3 or 4 weeks the tattoo should start peeling, which sounds kinda gross but it’s relieving once it happens.” Another giggle. Another near death experience for Soonyoung. “Then you can stop using the bandages and you should be good to go.”  
Soonyoung punctuated his instructions with a toothy smile and silently mourned his first and probably last with unnamed-cute-man.  
“Thank you for the tattoo, I only looked at it for a few seconds but it looks really good, I mean, as a good as a cat outline can look. Um, yeah, thanks.” The man’s blonde hair swooshed around his ears as he quickly turned around, the ‘you’re welcome’ dying on Soonyoung’s lips as his customer and new infatuation walked out the door of his office. He felt disappointed, as if he’d expected the slightly socially awkward man to suddenly make a move on him and then been let down. But no, he hadn’t, so why did he feel like there was something between them that hadn’t been said yet?  
It was just him being a hopeless romantic again, he told himself, but Soonyoung couldn’t shake the feeling that it wouldn’t be the last he saw of the quiet (and cute) stranger. 

 

After resuming work Soonyoung found he couldn’t focus on the designs that sat in front of him, none of them calling out to be finished like they normally would be. He impatiently tapped his pen against the side of his desk, an empty rhythm sounding out around the room. The little cat tattoo and the man (boy? The more Soonyoung thought about him the more innocent he seemed to be) that accompanied him faded in and out of the front of his mind, constantly drawing him away from what he should actually be focused on; his job.   
Inspiration was running dry and his attention slowly thinned until it was nothing at all, one leg hanging lazily over the arm of his chair, calmly spinning around in smooth circles until coming to a halt, realising that 2 hours had passed since the blonde man had been in his office and he had achieved nothing. Deciding to leave early and then tell himself to catch up tomorrow (like all responsible , fully grown adults do), he packed up his laptop and notebook and left the building, a warm mid-July breeze meeting his face.   
The walk to the subway station was fairly short, the back streets of Seoul providing a quick route to public transport, even if it meant in 6pm rush hour he felt a little bit like a trampled bug. Entering the station a flash of bleach blonde hair entered the corner of his vision and for a second a glimmer of hope burst in his chest, before dissipating along with the blonde hair into the crowd.   
He stood on the packed subway car, his sweaty hand gripping onto the handle as he swayed along with the rest of the passengers, an image Soonyoung always thought would be comparable to sardines if they could dance (he had a very long commute to sit through every day). The thought of the short man entered his head again, and he couldn’t stop replaying the soft laugh in his head, imagining the squinted eyes and fiddling hands to go with it. Despite common sense and basic idea of how the world works, Soonyoung still found himself imagining the many possible scenarios in which they would meet again and maybe (definitely) go out. Maybe. 

 

Two days later Soonyoung had gotten back into his usual routine. The unnamed man had been pushed to the back of his mind and he could finally focus on his work, having a surprising amount to catch up on after he gave himself a 2 (or 4) hour early mark. His heart still gave a little jump every time he passed the spot where he thought he might have glimpsed someone that could’ve been the man outside the station, and he still pondered over why a little cat would’ve been so important to him as to get a tattoo, but he could function.   
That evening, eyes drooping and feet heavy, Soonyoung locked up the shop after the final late night customers had departed, ready to curl up and sleep away the dulling pain. His eyes struggled to focus on shapes in front of him, 15 hours of stressing over the fine details being printed onto someone’s body taking its toll. The soles of his boots dragged along the ground, scuffing the already worn leather and giving him a rhythm to keep walking to. Scrape, stop, scrape, stop, a pattern that would eventually lead him to the station. That is, if he hadn’t found a distraction.  
“Hey, you’re the cat guy right?” Soonyoung asked a platinum blonde man, features startlingly similar to the ones of the man he had been harbouring a small (large) crush on for several days.   
“Uh, yeah, um…yeah I am, you’re the star tattoo guy, right?” His words seemed to hesitantly pop out one by one, like water bubbling over a waterfall.   
“Yeah that’s me.” Soonyoung was now full of energy, his depleted sources being filled to the brim once more at the prospect of learning more about his unnamed crush. “So, I never caught your name the other day, which is kind of, like, bad, considering I basically told you part of my life story and everything.” He didn’t know why that was his justification, the star story was fairly insignificant in the grand scheme of his childhood, but it felt right to make it feel like a name was small in comparison. Like it would reassure the other man.  
“I’m Jihoon, what about you?” The man, Jihoon, asked, his face seeming apprehensive at the sudden waves of enthusiasm radiating off of Soonyoung.   
“I’m Soonyoung, Kwon Soonyoung, it’s nice to meet to Jihoon.” He felt a small feeling of achievement in his chest and thought that he should go around making friends more often. It was nice.   
“Well, we’ve technically already met, so more like nice to meet you again…sorry that was dumb, it’s nice to meet you too Soonyoung.” A cute blush appeared on Jihoon’s face, his tan skin contrasting with the light red of his cheeks, Soonyoung’s heart drumming with happiness. So happy, in fact, that he hadn’t even realised he was being led away from the station, but he was doing too well to back out now, so instead just continued to follow Jihoon like they were on a stroll in a park, not walking along the street at 10pm bathing in the flickering street lamp light.   
“So, cats huh? You like a…like a cat lady type of person?” Soonyoung asked, the question scratching at the back of his mind until he decided to itch it. As the smile fell from Jihoon’s face, he instantly regretted giving into his own curiosity and tried to rectify the situation and steer them back onto the Jihoon-and-Soonyoung-together-forever track.  
“Uh, sorry, that might be really personal, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, I was just wondering…”   
Jihoon was quiet for a few minutes, an expression of thought on his face, and Soonyoung noted how, despite it being their second interaction, it looked like the default setting for his face, like he was constantly in a state of having gears whirring behind his eyes.   
“It’s kinda dumb actually,” Jihoon started, the phrase flowing from his lips like an instinct to protect himself from attack. “When I was 10, my parents got me a pet cat for my birthday. I’d been asking for one for years, it was all I’d ever wanted. I named him Wolverine, like the X-men character, and I used to call him Rin for short. Anyway, long story short, he died a few weeks ago from a blood clot in the middle of the night, and, I dunno…I just kinda miss him y’know? It was always me and him against the world, and now it’s just…me and me.”   
Soonyoung was silent for a few minutes, mulling the uncovered backstory of the little cat over in his head, comparing it with the wildly incorrect ones conjured up by his overactive imagination.   
Jihoon obviously took his silence for judgement, as he quickly backtracked over his nostalgic recount of his cat’s life. “I told you, it-it’s really dumb, I mean, he’s just a cat right? You’d think at 25 I’d be able to get over this kinda stuff. Anyway, just forget that I-”  
“It’s not dumb.” Soonyoung interrupted, his usual need for manners being forgotten in his slightly sleep-riddled state. “I think it’s really meaningful, and it’s good that you had such a deep connection to your cat. Everyone finds comfort in different things, and yours was in your pet. It’s perfectly understandable to miss him, if you had a friend for 15 years you’d probably be upset if you lost all contact with them.”   
Jihoon nodded, their already slow walk coming to an even slower stop in front of a cosy looking terrace house, his hands reaching back to lean on the gate.  
“So, Jihoon, I’ll see you round?” Soonyoung asked hopefully, the small smile on Jihoon’s face giving him a spark of optimism that wasn’t unusual for him.   
“Yeah, I think you will.”

 

The first time (post cat tattoo discussion) that Jihoon ran into him after work it was a coincidence, the second time a happy surprise, but after the 5th time Soonyoung was starting to detect a pattern. It would reach 10pm, and after a long day of painstaking work he would lock the door behind him, a relieved breath leaving his lungs as the handle clicked to signal it’s close. He would walk in the direction of the station, although after the 4th meeting he started to simply lean on the door to the shop until Jihoon arrived.   
A mop of blonde hair would wander through the crowd, and Soonyoung would walk up to meet it midstride, an exchange of hellos passing between the two. They would walk along the cracked pathway, a slow pace being set to allow maximum conversation time, and would talk about everything, from movies to music to food, layer by layer uncovering small details about the other, feelings sprouting and grew between each new redundant fact filed away in their minds.   
Then, after waving goodbye to Jihoon, he would head back in the direction he came from, passing the shop again, and wander down to the station, any need for rush being absorbed by the calm feeling given to him by the presence of Jihoon. He would sit on the subway, the trains being washed out of people by the time he reached his station, and at the late hour of midnight Soonyoung would type his apartment code in, occasionally needing to redo it due to a blurred mix up of numbers and an angry beeping sound that he used worry would set off an alarm before realising his bills weren’t high enough for something like that to be installed. He would flop down on his bed to sleep, dreaming about bleach blonde hair with regrowing roots, business shirts under jumpers, dr martens with colourful socks and every quirk about Jihoon that made him Jihoon. He was whipped and he knew it.   
The second Friday of their odd (and inconvenient) routine, Soonyoung decided to finally ask him out. It’s not like he’d say no (probably), they practically hung out every day anyway, and he was sure that the things he felt for Jihoon were returned, at least a little bit. It wasn’t unprecedented by any means, and it wasn’t out of the blue, yet Soonyoung still felt his stomach drop at the thought of asking to interact anywhere outside of their well-beaten track.   
His heart starting beating loud in his ears as he met the familiar face outside the shop. Speaking of shops, he still didn’t know what Jihoon did. For some reason, the topic of work never really came up in their nightly conversations and it only ever occurred to Soonyoung that he should probably ask about it after he turned from the terrace house. His hands felt clammy as he came back to his senses and remembered what he was planning on doing. The words seemed to get stuck in his throat, a symptom of nervousness very noticeable to others when it came to Soonyoung.   
“Are you okay? You seem a little off.” Jihoon voiced, his concern seeming endearingly genuine and the thought of making him uncomfortable or distant only made Soonyoung’s heart beat faster.  
“Yeah, I’m good, just a long day is all. I’ve got a lot on my mind.” They fell into a comfortable silence after that, Jihoon seeming to understand the feeling of having a lot on your mind all too well.  
After quiet 15 minutes, they eventually came to a stop outside the small terrace house, and Soonyoung decided that he would just have to go for it now or the words would never escape from the confines of his brain.   
“Hey, so I was wondering, you like cats right? Cuz there’s this cat café next to my house and I read some reviews and apparently it’s really nice and has cute cats and I don’t know you don’t have to if you don’t feel like it but maybe if you do then you might want to go with me tomorrow?” Soonyoung waited with baited breath for an answer, hoping the silence on Jihoon’s end equalled internal screaming (for good reasons) and not frantically thinking for excuses to say no with.   
“Um, well, yeah sure. What time?” Jihoon seemed tentative to agree to meeting someone outside of their routine, something he clearly didn’t participate in often, and Soonyoung appreciated the fact that he was making an exception for him.   
“Uh, like 10? I’ll meet you at Eonju station, it’s like right next door.”  
“Yeah, sure, sounds good. I’ll see you then Soonyoung.”  
“Yeah, see you then.”  
Soonyoung pretended not to hear a soft ‘yeeees’ escape Jihoon’s mouth, just like how he hoped Jihoon pretended not to hear the soft sigh of relief he breathed out once his back was turned.   
Like usual, he quickly began to doubt his plan that once had seemed like the sure fire way to get into Jihoon’s good books (not that he wasn’t but…y’know…like good good books). He didn’t particularly like cats, or cafes, and even though he lived in Eonju he had to admit that there wasn’t much to do there, but he would be okay, it would be fine, they would be okay. He had to reassure himself that as long as they had somewhere to walk and something to talk about they would be okay, and that even if it was a total flop he had a feeling that it would be alright either way. 

 

Soonyoung forgot about the fact that he’s never seen Jihoon on a day when he didn’t have work. He forgot about the fact that he was definitely not good at dealing with drastic changes, and he also forgot about the fact that Jihoon told him he sometimes wears glasses, and all of the amalgamated into something Soonyoung cannot handle. Jihoon, glasses perched on the bridge of his nose wearing a pair of shorts and a hoody, and on top of that he had his hands tucked into the pocket, rocking back and forward on the balls of his feet looking around at the passing faces to try and spot the familiar one. Soonyoung thought he was going to die before ever getting to kiss Jihoon because he just couldn’t process how someone could look so cute.  
Calming himself down first, Soonyoung approached the blonde, waving him over to a less crowded area of the station.  
“Hi.”  
“Hi.”  
“You look really cute today.” Soonyoung short circuited. A compliment? This was just taking it too far. Looking down at his ripped jeans and old short sleeved button up he had to dig out from the back of his wardrobe, he thought that to group him and Jihoon into the same category of cute was an insult to just how attractive Jihoon truly was.   
“Uh thanks, you-you do too.” They (somewhat awkwardly) exchanged smiles and headed out of the station, Soonyoung leading the way, discussing their usual topics of conversation; food, tattoos and music. They wandered through the streets, the sun streaking down on them and making them both regret the slightly too warm aspects of their outfits. Luckily for Jihoon, he would just have to take off the hoody to reveal the white tee shirt underneath, whereas Soonyoung would be forced to suffer the sweaty fate he chose for himself when decided to wear jeans for the aesthetic.   
“Here it is.” Soonyoung said, the small bells jangling as they entered the shop. The cool air of the AC greeted them as they stepped inside the café, and it was a welcome change for Soonyoung who was slowly being broiled from the inside out.   
They quickly took off their shoes and pulled on the papery slippers, Jihoon’s socked feet looking ridiculously small in the slippers. Quickly shuffling back from the lockers to the main room, Soonyoung ordered an iced coffee from the small vending machine-like machine next to the door. Getting home at 12am every night was slowly breaking down the sleeping schedule he’d spent years trying to perfect, and he kept forgetting to devise a more practical plan for spending time with Jihoon that didn’t involve unnecessary hours spent in the tattoo parlour and walking along the streets of a suburb he didn’t live in.   
Jihoon was waiting for him at the door, iced tea in one hand and door knob in the other, clearly attempting to contain his excitement for the cats beyond the door and not doing a very good job of it.   
“Soonyoung hurry up, you’re like an old man.” Jihoon said as he opened the door, a room full of cats revealing itself to the boy (yes, it was definitely boy. No male could get that excited over cats and not be called a boy, it didn’t matter how old).  
“If I knew you were gonna get so excited I would’ve walked faster.” Soonyoung replied, too focused on the look of contentment that crossed Jihoon’s face as he sat amongst a group of long haired cats to bother with a decent comeback.  
Not only was he adding Jihoon + cats to his list of things he definitely could not handle, but Soonyoung was dead set on sneaking a photo of the boy for a future contact photo. They’d never really mentioned exchanging phone numbers before, just because it was never really necessary for the routine they had going on, but for the day when Jihoon occupied a spot in his contact list (and for his own happiness) Soonyoung was determined to take the softest photo possible of a wholesome, glasses wearing, cat cuddling Jihoon that would satisfy his cute Jihoon needs at all times.   
It wasn’t like Jihoon had an aversion to cameras, well, actually, yeah, that’s exactly what it was. Whenever Soonyoung had mentioned taking a photo to show his friends (“Jihoon, I was telling my friend Seokmin about you, let me take a photo of you to show him because he doesn’t think you’re real.” “Why wouldn’t he think I’m real?” “He doesn’t think anyone would actually let me walk home with them every single day and be willing to put up with me talking that whole time.” “He has a good point.”) he had instantly put his hands over his face and refused to take them off until Soonyoung vowed not to take a photo when his guard was down. Soonyoung had a mission to capture at least one image of the boy and where was a better place to do that than a place where Jihoon had practically been absorbed by a bean bag and was half-asleep with a tabby cat curled up in his arms.  
Soonyoung slowly set his coffee down beside him, a cat slinking over to lay down in his lap as his arms retrieved his phone from his pocket and opened the camera app. The angle his phone was at made Jihoon appear even smaller than usual and if he wasn’t trying to be sneaky he might’ve genuinely squealed. He clicked the volume button about three times before the cat boy began to stir in his sleep and Soonyoung decided that he’d been quiet enough for one day.   
“Hoonie, Jihoonie, wake up, you can’t love the cats if you’re unconscious, can you?” Soonyoung whispered near Jihoon’s ear, a small mumble of protest escaping the boy’s mouth before he opened his eyes and sat up properly. A pout appeared on his face as the cat nestled in his lap jumped off at the sudden movement, and Soonyoung felt his heart physically ache at the sight.   
Soonyoung had realised that Jihoon loved cats as soon as he unfolded that piece of paper, anyone willing to get a tattoo of something had to love it a lot, but he never realised the extent to that love extended to until this day. Jihoon had never looked so peaceful and content in all the 2 weeks of their friendship than when he was surrounded by cats. Every time one would waddle passed his crossed legs, his face would light up like a child in a chocolate shop, and when a small kitten nestled on his legs the expression he made could only be described as pure joy. Soonyoung was ecstatic (and also internally dying but what else is new).  
Soon an hour and a half had passed and they decided to leave the café (only after the feeding were they allowed to depart though, because, in Jihoon’s words, ‘Cats are only 100% happy when they have food, and I need to see cats being 100% happy otherwise this entire thing was a waste.’), venturing down the road to a sushi train with a very mellowed out Jihoon trailing behind a very excited Soonyoung.   
The two sat down and instantly began to eat, the time for conversation left for later as they realised how long they’d spent without food in the café. The silence of eating was broken by Jihoon, who seemed to accept a wave of stress as it crashed back down onto him, washing away any lingering contentment left behind by the cats.   
“I have so much marking to do and I’d completely forgotten about it until now because I was so excited about cats.”  
It took Soonyoung a moment to process what Jihoon would even be talking about, in which he continued to chew pieces of sashimi hastily shovelled into his mouth.  
“Muhbi, whab boo oo-”  
“Soonyoung, swallow your food.” Soonyoung did as he was told, the ashamed gulp of fish causing him to feel a bit sick, but there were other matters at hand.  
“What would you be marking?”  
Jihoon looked at him incredulously for a moment, before realising that the subject had never come up before and quickly explaining.  
“I’m a teacher, I have to mark my kids’ homework assignments before Monday. I teach elementary school kids.” Jihoon quickly fed himself another piece of sushi, waiting for the reply that was still being formed in Soonyoung’s head.  
“That makes a lot of sense.”  
“What why?”  
“If I was 7 and you were my teacher I’d definitely get my work done.”  
“What’s that supposed to mean?”  
“Well, you’re just, I don’t know, you have that aura, y’know?”  
“Aura?” A sceptical eyebrow was raised, the glasses really accentuating the whole ‘teacher look’ that Soonyoung could now identify so clearly.  
“Yeah, you give off teacher vibes. It’s totally a thing.”  
“Um no it’s not, you’re being dumb.”  
“No you’re being dumb.”  
“Soonyoung, I deal with literal 5 year olds every day, don’t make me deal with more of your bullshit.”  
The two discussed Jihoon’s job and how comparable Soonyoung was to Jihoon’s kindergarten class until a reminder went off on Jihoon’s phone and he remembered that he probably should get home and do his marking.  
“You should come by sometime.” Jihoon mentioned as they left the restaurant.  
“You mean, to your class?” Soonyoung asked, wandering why on earth Jihoon would consider that a good idea.  
“Yeah, it would be fun.”  
“You don’t think they’d be put off by, well, this.” Soonyoung motioned up and down his arm covered in a sleeve of tattoos, giving Jihoon a questioning look.   
“Nah, kids think everything is cool. I once showed them a video of a seahorse giving birth and one girl cried because she loved it so much.”  
“What a mood.”   
“See, you’d all get along great.”  
A subway ride and short walk late, they found themselves back outside Jihoon’s house for the umpteenth time.   
“I feel like we need to do something else every day, change it up a bit you know. I’m starting to get sick of this place.” Jihoon commented while haphazardly waving hand in the direction of house. The both of them were a bit drunk on giddiness, the sort of feeling where everything makes you happy and the urge to laugh is sometimes found in too many things.   
“Jihoon you live here.” Both looked at each other before giggling like school girls, the eye contact too much for their hyper brains to manage.   
“Okay, true. Anyway, bye.” Jihoon made to turn around before Soonyoung stopped him with a hand on his wrist.  
“One more thing.”   
Soonyoung moved forward before Jihoon could even see it coming, his lips landing right on Jihoon’s, more of a one sided peck that a kiss, but hey, it still counted. Their giddiness only amped up the moment, making both smile up to their eyes.   
“Okay, I’m done now, bye.” Soonyoung began walking away, the smile still stuck on his face, and on the other side of the fence facing his door, Jihoon was stuck with the exact same one.


	2. Chapter 2

Soonyoung was still a sentimental guy, he cried when Jihoon asked him to be his boyfriend, he cried when a client told him the story behind her tattoo for her sister (that one almost got messy) and he cried in the car after meeting Jihoon’s parents (“Babe it’s fine, you did great.” “I know, that’s why I’m crying, we’re finally a really couple Jihoonie!!” “…okay Soonyoung, okay.”).  
Jihoon however, was not. Well, not on the surface at least. Did Soonyoung hear sniffling when they watched The Lion King together? Yes. Did he see the old photo of Jihoon’s cat nestled between his phone and the clear case? Absolutely. Was he ever in a million years ever going to bring these observations up though? No. Definitely not. He valued things such as four functioning limbs and a non-bruised forehead, so he would be avoiding the teasing for the foreseeable future.   
Several weeks ago, about a month after their trip to the café, Soonyoung decided that they had gotten close enough for his boyfriend to trust him with the possession of several soft, cat-filled images of him. He was wrong. Not only had Jihoon deleted the photos as soon as he got his hands on the phone, but he had proceeded to violently smack Soonyoung over the head with a wheat heat pack for about 10 minute. That mightn’t sound painful, but he learnt the hard way how tightly packed with grains those heat packs really are.   
Ever since, he’d been trying his best to identify when Jihoon was at his softest so that he’d know when to strike. Not only did he not have any photos left of Jihoon, but anytime he brought up his phone in the vicinity of his face Jihoon would aggressively snatch it away and continue to huddle over it like a dragon guarding its treasure until being assured that no, Soonyoung was not going to ‘capitalise on his vulnerable and unguarded state for his own sadistic gains.’ Jihoon’s words, not his.   
So, who could blame him when he went to meet Jihoon after work, the mid-afternoon light shining down on his now slightly dirty blonde hair, and he tried to take a few sneaky snaps while his boyfriend was patiently speaking to an overly-concerned parent. Mothers and fathers took one look at his sleeve and other at his camera, pointed directly at their favourite teacher Mr Lee, and decided to keep a 5 meter distance from him at all times.   
After realising that yes, he probably did look like a bit of a stalker, Soonyoung slipped his phone into his pocket and leaned back against the chicken wire fence separating the school and the oval. Small kids ran around him, attempting to fit in any last play time before their parents stopped conversing with each other, the older kids heading down to the convenience store on the corner, having to pass him on their way. Most of the children who were old enough not to be picked up by their parents were also old enough to know what should and shouldn’t be said aloud, but many of the younger ones didn’t have the same filter.   
“Mum, muuum, mum, look, you said I need to be a big boy and stop drawing on my arms, but that man has drawings all over his arm.”  
At this (incredibly loud, yet endearing) comment made by a 5 year old boy tugging at his mum’s arm, Jihoon looked up from the can-I-talk-to-your-manager-haircut mother and his eyes immediately landed on Soonyoung.   
“Well, Jinho, that’s called a tattoo, and it’ll be on his arm forever, so I don’t want you getting any ideas.”  
“But mum, it looks so cool.”  
“No, it doesn’t Jinho, now stop staring at him, it’s rude.”  
At this, Jihoon quickly found a way to end his conversation and headed over to where Soonyoung was standing, as if sensing the self-consciousness making its presence known inside Soonyoung’s head, suddenly hyper-aware of the eyes centred on his tattoos. It wasn’t like comments about his controversial style choices were few and far between, because even if they were, stares were a lot harder to control than people’s words, but it was hard to become accustomed to people insulting the things that had deep emotional value to him without becoming upset or angry.   
Jihoon’s hand entwined itself with Soonyoung’s, his thumb pressing a reassuring pattern onto his knuckles as the eyes continued to bore into him, feeling like his inked arm was tingling under the gaze.   
“Hey, let’s go home, yeah?”  
“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”  
They began to walk beyond the school gates, a chorus of ‘bye Mr Lee’ leaving the mouths of the kindergarteners. A sediment of silence settled between them, Soonyoung still incredibly embarrassed, Jihoon still methodically smoothing over the skin of his knuckles. They passed a chicken shop, Soonyoung deciding that he would simply pretend it didn’t happen to avoid the conversation that would ensue, not wanting to face the pitying gaze of his boyfriend.  
“Can we have chicken for dinner?”  
“No, we still have that leftover takeout from Thursday, remember? If we don’t eat it today then we’ll have to throw it out.”  
“Oh, okay.”  
Soonyoung physically retreated back into his unusually quite self, his shoulders becoming slightly concave and his fingers tightening slightly around Jihoon’s.  
“Soon, do you wanna talk about it? I know it might’ve been embarrassing, but you know I don’t care right?” Soonyoung continued to walk, the question turned over in his head like it was on a rotisserie, the simple statement being cooked on all sides by self-doubt and insecurity.   
What was there to talk about? He just stood out too much is all, it wasn’t Jihoon’s fault that he dated a guy who looked like he belonged shanking someone in a back alley rather than waiting at an elementary school’s gates. He realised him and Jihoon don’t look good together, it wasn’t a surprise. The rolled up blue jeans and comfy jumpers Jihoon wore to work every day heavily contrasted with Soonyoung’s all black get up and thoroughly tattooed upper limbs, and he got that, he knew. But it still didn’t make the disproving stares and shocked whispers that followed him around any better, especially when he was with Jihoon.  
“Hello, earth to Soonyoung, you still in there babe?”  
Jihoon emphasised his point with a ruffle of Soonyoung’s fringe and a small kiss on his nose, the adorable acts of affection almost making him forget about his previous anxieties.   
“Uh yeah, I am, just thinking.”  
“You wanna talk?”  
They entered the subway station, the echoic walls seeming to emphasise the tone of worry in Jihoon’s voice.  
“Um, well, it’s just like, you don’t mind do you? About the stares and stuff? Cuz like, I can wear long sleeves if you want me too, it’s not a big deal.”  
Soonyoung began playing with Jihoon’s fingers which were still entwined with his. He felt his heart start beating erratically like it always did when he was nervous, and he really hoped that Jihoon wouldn’t agree to the whole long sleeves thing, he hated the feeling of wearing long shirts and didn’t think he could deal with wearing long sleeved-shirts in summer.   
“Of course not, Soonyoung your tattoos are fine, I honestly don’t care about what other people think of them, as long as you like them and are happy with them, then that’s all I’m concerned with.”  
They sat down on the leather subway seats and Soonyoung couldn’t resist the grin that spread on his face, eyelids squishing together out of happiness.   
“You sure?”  
“100%”  
“Okay, well, that’s good.”  
They both made eye contact, smiles trying to outshine the other and laughter trying to be contained.  
“This feels familiar.” Soonyoung said, as their grins slowly fading from borderline insane to calm and happy.  
“Yeah, it really does.”  
Jihoon spun his head around to check for other passengers and when he deemed the coast clear, he leaned in and gave Soonyoung a peck on each cheek before planting one on his lips, another cheek splitting grin growing from it.   
After a long day of teaching, Jihoon let his head fall onto Soonyoung’s shoulder and drifted off to sleep, the soft strands of blond falling over his eyes and tickling his cheeks, causing his nose to twitch periodically. Despite the short burst of maturity displayed by Jihoon is the absence of Soonyoung’s happiness, he was definitely the more innocent of two, and just the sight of a sleepy, mellow Jihoon on his shoulder made Soonyoung almost forget about his scheme to get another photo of his boyfriend. Almost.  
Precariously, he reached into his pocket and retrieved his phone, flipped the camera around and making sure to take the photo so that all of Jihoon’s face would be present in the image. Holding his phone in his lap, Soonyoung breathed a silent sigh of relief at having escaped the wrath of Jihoon and making it out with something to show for it.  
Jihoon wasn’t really asleep, and knew that Soonyoung was breaking his vow to not capitalise on his vulnerable and unguarded state, but he decided to pretend just for the sake of his boyfriend’s happiness. Just like how he pretended not to notice Soonyoung’s lock screen (the picture of him) later that night when they were eating dinner, and decided to take his payment (Soonyoung being unaware of course) in the jar of peanut butter in his pantry with a star shaped sticky note with ‘soon’ written on it stuck on the side, and distracting Soonyoung from the variety show on TV with little pecks all over his face. But it was just this once. Definitely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this was low key angsty even tho i said it'd be cute sorry bout that
> 
> imma edit both these chapters tomorrow because im #lazy so it might not be like correct english or good at all but whatev
> 
> anyway yeah i hoped you all liked it and pls give me some requests/suggestions because i've only written two fics/one shot type things and ive already run dry lol
> 
> \+ this is what I imagined soon to look like  
> https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/109564203417223772/?lp=true


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